Why weren't armed people arrested at 'Trump train' rally at school? Here's what police say

Bringing a firearm onto a school campus is a felony in Kentucky. But no one was charged over the weekend when guns came out at a "Trump train" rally that began at Eastern High School.

It was a decision based on de-escalation, according to Middletown Police Chief Rob Herman. Protesters had blocked exits at Eastern's campus to keep supporters of President Donald Trump's campaign from leaving Sunday's gathering, Herman said, which caused them to drive around the group to reach the road. Intervening against either side, Herman said, could have thrown fuel on the fire.

"Our ultimate goal was to diffuse the whole situation and try to de-escalate the rising tensions that were occurring between both parties. That's when both parties produced a long gun," Herman said Monday morning. "... No one pointed any guns at anybody, that I know of. So when the guns did produce, it was better just to keep everybody leaving — exiting the property — and diffuse everything than it would have been to shut everything down and try to cause a larger skirmish."

How many police departments across the country will follow this lead?